With only final building permits left to clear, crews will begin pouring foundations for a new Bluffton Fire Station 30 within the month.

Construction on the 9.2-acre site at the intersection of Burnt Church and Bridge Street will take about nine months, said Deputy Fire Chief John Thompson Jr., the project lead.

The new $2.2 million facility will replace the current Station 30 just a stone’s throw away next to Town Hall. Station 30, originally planned as a volunteer unit, is the oldest of six fire stations in Bluffton, and engineering reports from two or three years ago gave the facility another two to three years of life, Thompson said.

“We’re pushing the envelope a little bit,” he said.

Purchased by the fire district for $1.2 million in December 2010, the site will house a fire truck, four firefighters, an ambulance and four emergency medical technicians, with enough space leftover to accommodate future expansion.

The fire district is organizing a groundbreaking ceremony for October. No date has been set.

Thompson called the construction of a new station “a big morale booster for the crew.”

“It’s a big step for the Bluffton Fire Department,” he said. “This is our prototype station. This’ll be the floor plan and design we use for subsequent stations to save money on design costs.”

Town Council’s appointee to the fire commission, Mike Raymond, was initially skeptical about the size and cost of the lot, but he echoed Thompson.

“That’s what the intent was from day one when we started this design over here: to build a template we could own, duplicate, and stamp it out if we need to,” he said.

The project is running on budget, Thompson said.

“We’re right on track for that budget,” he said. “In fact, we may come in slightly under that budget, but that $2.2 million is a good number.”

The new station will be funded from the district’s reserves and will not require any borrowing.

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